If there was one thing that I wanted to see at this year’s E3, it was the new PSP. I was dying to see what Sony had up their sleeves. I was especially looking forward to the much-requested hard-drive that was rumored to be included. But what did Sony do? Crushed my frail little dreams, that’s what. And they didn’t even apologize! Totally inconsiderate.

So, instead of an 8GB hard-drive, we get a faster UMD drive, a more efficient battery, a thinner and lighter casing, and a video-out connection. Yup, that’s it. And even worse, the damn thing looks exactly the same!

Now, I will say the ability to display the feed on a TV is a pretty cool feature, but when compared to how insignificant everything else is, having a video-out option isn’t a good enough reason to upgrade from the old PSP. Before, I was all ready to get in line and wait for the new model come this Fall, but now, I see no reason to.

If this is all we get, what the hell was the point of even upgrading the damn thing? I seriously thought Kaz Harai forgot about some of the new features, and would go back to them the moment he remembered. That’s not supposed to happen when unveiling new hardware, even if it is just an upgrade.

4 Comments

Dave said on
July 12, 2007:

I can’t see this version pulling in many new customers (a la lite) only original owners looking to upgrade. As always, it depends on the price Sony sets for this spruced up two year old system.
I’m happy though; I only wanted a psp for homebrew and this means ‘old stock clearance’ Woo Hoo!

What did the DSLite fix? It looked different, mostly because the original was big and ugly. The screen is actually viable outside now, the battery is a little better and now GBA carts don’t fit.

I get the point that when your competitor has you against the ropes you need to make your next move count and thus this new PSP is laughable, but it’s really not any stupider than Nintendo fixing their handheld then selling it as an improved model.

Christian said on
July 12, 2007:

but the DS lite is tinier and more apple like. LIfestyle hardware Jay. Lifestyle hardware.

After going through the comments on different sites and taking a look back at what happened, I still don’t like what Sony did. Many say that it upgraded enough to have a new model, and that you don’t really need to change its aesthetics, like what Nintendo did with the DS and the DS Lite. To me, the PSP doesn’t have to change its look, as it looks amazing as is. But there’s just not enough new in the redesign to say it’s worth $200, when I already spent $200 the first time. It’s probably good for people that never had a PSP before, as it gives the system a little more value, but for everyone that has one, it’s just not enough. When you spent $150 on a DS Lite, there was enough of a difference from the first model to say it was worth getting a new one, even when you had the DS Phat. And really, adding these features doesn’t really make the PSP a must-have product. If no one wants it now, I can’t imagine everyone changing their minds when they hear about the redesign. They should have added more, to make it a great product to get new users, and differentiate it enough from the old model to get current users to want to upgrade.